Fixing a flat on a 3-speed bicycle
I started writing this article a couple of weeks ago and got side tracked. I thought folks might find it useful so finished it up today.
Old skills come back. The Dunelt got a flat. Actually a tire was bad, a bulge in the sidewall, and I changed it with one from another wheel. It immediately went flat. So I loosened the shift trigger on the handlebar, that is a very important step if you are going to set the bicycle on its seat and handlebars to work on it. Now, I do have a Park Bicycle Repair Stand, but I wanted to do this like I did when I was tad.
With the bicycle on upside down resting on the handlebars and seat, I removed the valve core. Then using my plastic tire irons (Yes, I am aware of the irony of calling plastic levers, irons) and broke the near side (Just like a horse the near side is the side you normally mount from, but strangely the other side on a bicycle is the drive side, while on a horse it is the off side) of the tire loose from the rim. I pull the tube out and tried to find the leak. If you can find the leak at this point you do not need to dismount the wheel. In this case I could not find it.
Because I could not find the leak I had to remove the wheel so I could take the tube off the bicycle. I disconnected the shift cable at the adjustor. Used an Crescent Wrench to loosen the axle nuts. Whoops, I had to back off the shifter nut first. Then I removed the wheel, hooking the drive chain over the end of the stay to keep it from falling off the chainwheel.
With the wheel off the bicycle, it was simply a matter of pushing the valve stem out of the hole in the rim and removing the tube. I replaced the valve and pumped the tube up a bit. Then I ran some water into the sink, and immerged the tube in the water. The leak was immediately evident.
I had bought a rather cheap patch kit at Wal-Mart. It was packaged by Bell and contained a tube scraper, three of those plastic tire irons, and twenty self-adhesive patches. The patches were something new to me. Instead of the classic rubber patches there was a sheet of what looked like those little round stickers you buy to mark prices on things. I dried the tube scraped it with some sandpaper (Works better than those metal scrapers) peeled off of the patches from the backing paper and pressed it into place. It was about the thickness and color of that translucent Scotch Tape. It seems to hold OK, and there is not going to be a bump that you can feel when riding over it. How it stands up is something only time will tell.
NOTE (added later): These patches did not work well for me. They would hold air for a couple of days and then start leaking. I went and bought some Rema patches, those I know work.
Twilight Ride
Took the Dunelt out for a twilight ride this afternoon, yes this afternoon, twilight comes early this time of year. Thought I would post a photo or two.